


Insert Tab A Into Slot B

by CadetDru



Series: Before [3]
Category: Dollhouse
Genre: Imprinting, Schizophrenia, after alpha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetDru/pseuds/CadetDru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Dr. Claire Saunders came to work at the Dollhouse</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alpha cut her face. Dr. Saunders was dead, but he had a staff behind. 

Topher was the one to suggest it. It had seemed so obvious: broken doll, missing doctor, contract not up. . . maybe he was just the only one willing to suggest it. Maybe Adelle was worried how he would take it. Maybe it really didn't occur to the rest of them; he knew he was the smartest (that's why they needed Claire) there. 

Claire wasn't ready to go back to her old life, not like that. And they needed a doctor. (And she had wanted to be a doctor, in the life before her break, before the Dollhouse.)

He worked hardest on that imprint than on any other. Tried to give Claire some of herself back, her best self. Gave her those questions, that second-guessing, that Devil's advocate nature. She would help him keep the rest safe. They let him give her back her name.

He owed her so much. She had trusted him and he had let her get hurt. 

She had been his best friend. Maybe she could be again.


	2. Further Instructions

Whiskey was asleep in the chair, healing her poor face. Topher could heal her head, take away some of the bad memories. He still had to leave some behind, something to explain those cuts, the visceral fear she should still have. He couldn't wipe away it all, no matter how much he wanted to. 

Topher was trying not to look at her while he fine-tuned the dual imprints. The master copies of Dr. Saunders and his Claire would be locked away. He'd make two new ones. A fake copy, one of a poor girl who'd been killed by Alpha. The other would be a slightly less perfect copy of Dr. Saunders, modified to take in the pieces of Claire he had to take away from the fake. It'd be his best work yet. 

Adelle was waiting. Everyone was waiting, but Adelle was waiting next to him. 

Topher was not crying. Topher didn't feel anything for his Actives beyond professional curiosity. Dr. Claire Saunders would really care for them. She'd take over where Topher couldn't.

There was ice in his heart: she'd be as warm as he could make her. 

"How much longer?"

"It would go faster if people stopped asking me that," Topher said, snapping to keep his voice from breaking. 

Adelle was suddenly literally breathing down his neck. "How did you think of this?' she said, so softly. A little warning voice in his ear. Don't be clever, was what Topher heard. Don't do too much. Don't make yourself seen.

"We need a doctor, and she's clearly not going anywhere."

"And how was this poor child recruited?"

He didn't look at her. She put a hand on his shoulder and walked away. He finished and loaded the new imprint, and Dr. Saunders woke up. 

"Did I fall asleep?" she asked, more confused than Actives normally sounded. 

"For a little while," Topher said, soft as an unanswered prayer. 

"Shall I go now?" she said, sounding more and more like a confused woman instead of a blank slate. 

"If you like, Doctor," Adelle said, not one to waste any time. 

"Where are the patients?"

"Downstairs," Adelle said.

Dr. Saunders stood up. "I'll get changed and see who needs help."

"Your staff's been doing admirably while you've been recuperating."

"Well, the doctor is in now," Dr. Saunders said with a small smile. "I won't let this set me back, I promise."

Adelle smiled widely, a shark's smile. Teeth and no heart. "I'm glad to hear it."


End file.
